WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US medical system spends around twice as much treating preventable health conditions caused by obesity than it does on cancer, Health SecretaryKathleen Sebelius said Tuesday.

"We're spending just under 150 billion dollars a year on health conditions related to obesity," Sebelius told the first-ever national conference on obesity to be organized by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"We have a situation where health conditions related to obesity have nearly twice the cost-impact on the health system as all the cancers combined in this country."

The American Cancer Society, she noted, estimates that all cancers combined cost the health system around 93 billion dollars a year.

Her comments came a day after a study released at the conference found that medical spending on obesity-related conditions could reach a whopping 147 billion dollars a year.

Two-thirds of US adults and one in five children are overweight or obese, putting them at greater risk of chronic illness like heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, according to reports released Monday at the three-day "Weight of the Nation" conference.

"If there were an epidemic in this country of children getting cancer at the rate they are presenting with diabetes, I think we would have people crying out for some sort of national solution," said Sebelius.

"But weight problems -- because they don't present themselves as dramatic problems till later in life -- we have been slow to act."

But Sebelius pledged that would change, as reducing rampant obesity in the United States was at the heart of President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul the healthcare system that leaves some 47 million Americans uninsured.

"President Obama and I are committed to delivering a healthcare system that provides all Americans with better quality and lower costs, and fighting obesity is at the heart of these goals," Sebelius told the conference.

"Keeping people healthy and reducing chronic disease will dramatically lower our costs... chronic diseases are not only responsible for 75 percent of the costs but also for about 70 percent of the deaths.

"Reducing obesity would be one of the biggest steps we could take towards this," she added.

FRIDAY, July 31 (HealthDay News) -- In the last 25 years, rates of severe childhood obesity in the United States have tripled, putting increasing numbers of children at risk for diabetes and heart disease, says a new study.

Researchers looked at National Health and Nutrition Survey data on 12,384 youths, ages 2 to 19 years, and found that the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 0.8 percent in the period from 1976 to 1980 to 3.8 percent in 1999 to 2004. Severe obesity correlates to a body mass index that's equal to or greater than the 99th percentile for age and gender.

The finding could mean that 2.7 million children in the United States are severely obese, the researchers said.

Black and Mexican-American children had the largest increases in severe obesity, along with children in families below the poverty level. For example, the percentage of severely obese Mexican-American children rose from 0.9 percent to 5.2 percent.

The researchers also found that a third of severely obese children had metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for diabetes, stroke and heart attack. The risk factors include high blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels.

The study appears online in Academic Pediatrics.

"Children are not only becoming obese but becoming severely obese, which impacts their overall health," Dr. Joseph Skelton, an obesity expert at Brenner Children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., and lead author of the study, said in a news release from the center.

"These findings reinforce the fact that medically based programs to treat obesity are needed throughout the United States, and insurance companies should be encouraged to cover this care," Skelton said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – An obese prisoner in Harris County, Texas has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm after he was discovered to be hiding a 9mm pistol in between his rolls of fat, local media reported Saturday.

George Vera, who weighs around 500 pounds (225 kilograms) was originally arrested last week for selling counterfeit CDs, according to the Houston Chronicle newspaper.

A police spokesman told the Chronicle that Vera was searched three times over the course of his arrest and booking at the jail but managed to conceal the handgun with his rolls of fat until it was discovered in the shower.

Vera has been charged with possession of an illegal weapon in a correctional facility, which carries a penalty of two to 10 years in prison, but is currently free on bail of 10,000 dollars.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The rate of severe obesity among U.S. children and teenagers more than tripled over the past three decades, a new study finds.

Using data from a long-running government health survey, researchers found that as of 2004, nearly 4 percent of 2- to 19-year-olds in the U.S. were severely obese.

That was up more than three-fold from 1976, and more than 70 percent from 1994, the researchers report in the journal Academic Pediatrics.

"Children are not only becoming obese, but becoming severely obese, which impacts their overall health," lead researcher Dr. Joseph A. Skelton, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said in a news release from the university.

"These findings," he added, "reinforce the fact that medically-based programs to treat obesity are needed throughout the United States and insurance companies should be encouraged to cover this care."

The study also found that minority and lower-income children are at particular risk of severe obesity -- which, in children and teenagers, is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) in the 99th percentile for one's age and gender.

In the most recent survey, which included 12,000 2- to 19-year-olds from across the U.S., nearly 6 percent of African-American children and teens were severely obese, as were roughly 5 percent of Mexican- Americans. That compared with 3 percent of their white peers.

In contrast, less than 1 percent of Mexican-American children and less than 2 percent of black children were severely obese in the 1970s survey.

When it came to family income, the latest survey data show that just over 4 percent of relatively lower-income children were severely obese, versus 2.5 percent of those from higher-income families.

The findings underscore a central obstacle in tackling childhood obesity, Skelton and his colleagues note: The children who are most affected also generally have the greatest difficulty getting good healthcare.

"No simple answers exist," the researchers write, pointing out that along with better access to healthcare, there also need to be broader efforts to improve the diets and lifestyle habits of U.S. children.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Caring for obese people is eating up an ever-bigger slice of the US health care spending pie, a new government report shows.

From 2001 to 2006, health care expenditures on obese adults rose from $167 billion to $303 billion, an 82 percent jump, according to an analysis by Marie N. Stagnitti, a senior survey statistician at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Maryland.

"Obviously we need to get this under control," Stagnitti told Reuters Health. "This is just another way to cut the data show that, especially for the obese population, we need to figure out what's going on there."

Obese people accounted for 28 percent of total health care spending in 2001, and 35 percent in 2006, the researcher found, while normal-weight people's share of these costs dropped from 35 percent to 30 percent.

During that time the number of obese adults in the US rose from 48 million to 59 million, while the number of normal weight adults actually fell slightly, from 79.6 million to 78.3 million.

The figures come from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which samples US households on their health care spending, and account for the entire non-institutionalized civilian US population.

During the survey period, the proportion of overweight and obese people in the US population grew, which likely accounts for some of the increases in costs; in 2001, 23.6 percent of US adults were obese and 39 percent were normal-weight, compared to 27.2 percent and 36.1 percent, respectively, in 2006.

Stagnitti's analysis also showed that obese people accounted for the lion's share of the US population with at least a single chronic disease, like heart disease or diabetes. In 2001, 57.1 percent were obese, and in 2006 59.7 percent were obese.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Overweight children and teenagers may eat more when they have a snack with an overweight friend rather than a thinner peer, a new study suggests.

In a study of 9- to 15-year-olds, researchers found that all kids, regardless of their weight, tended to eat more when they had the chance to snack with a friend than when they were with a peer they did not know.

But the biggest calorie intakes were seen when an overweight child snacked with an overweight friend.

The findings, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, highlight the role of friends' influence in how much kids eat -- and, possibly, in their weight control.

It's not surprising that children eat more when they are with friends instead of strangers, according to lead researcher Dr. Sarah-Jean Salvy, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The same pattern has been found in adults, Salvy told Reuters Health in an email. This, she explained, may be partly because people are more self-conscious around strangers, and partly because friends act as "permission-givers."

"They set the norm for what is appropriate to do, or in this case eat," Salvy said.

For the study, Salvy and her colleagues had 23 overweight and 42 normal-weight children and teens spend 45 minutes with either a friend or an unfamiliar peer. Each pair was given games, puzzles and books for entertainment, along with bowls of chips, cookies, carrots and grapes.

Overall, the researchers found, pairs of friends downed more calories than did unacquainted pairs. And overweight friends consumed the most -- 738 calories, on average, versus 444 calories when an overweight child was paired with normal-weight friend.

Normal-weight kids consumed an average of about 500 calories when paired with a friend, regardless of the friend's weight.

Salvy noted that a recent study of adults found that people were more likely to gain weight over three decades if their same-sex friends were overweight or obese -- suggesting a role for "social influence" in body weight.

When it comes to children and teens, it's known that many follow their friends' lead in deciding whether to smoke or drink. The current findings, Salvy said, suggest that kids' eating habits are also "largely determined by their social network."

The good side of that, according to Salvy, is that helping one child make healthy changes may end up influencing his or her friends as well. She said her research interest now is to see whether there is in fact such a "contagion effect" on friends' eating habits.

today i've read a weight loss plan ..i think it may achieve good results , iread it on weight loss secrets tips blog ...so i preferred to share it with you :

The Cabbage Soup Diet if followed strictly can help reduce 2 to 2.5 kgs in 7 days. Abstain from sweets, sugar, colas, tea, coffee,soda, alcohol etc and drink lots and lots of water through out the day. Cabbage Soup should be taken every day. Also do some exercise daily.The food intake should be divided into 5-6 mini meals everyday. The plan is given below.Day 1 : Eat fruits like melons, apple,orange,papaya etc . Do not eat Banana today.Day 2 : Eat Raw Vegetables like Tomato, Cucumber, Carrot etc. Lunch can be stir fried vegetables with onion and garlic in very less olive oil or steamed vegetables and a baked potato. Avoid sweet corn and green peas.Day 3 : Eating a combination of fruits and vegetables eaten on day 1 and day 2, except potato.Day 4 : Eat only bananas (6-8) and drink skim milk.Day 5 : Eat 3 baked or grilled skinless chicken or fish meal today and around 6 tomatoes.Vegetarians can substitute with tofu.Day 6 : Eat 3 steaks and vegetable salads today. Avoid Potato.Day 7 : Consume unsweetened Fruit Juices and Raw Vegetables.

With over half the population in most countries being affected by obesity, it has become vital to find a solution for it. In this context, Calotren supplement has been found to be of great use. It is a protein supplement which helps the body to lose fat in a natural way. It works in combination with a healthy diet and regular exercise pattern and works slowly to show its effects. But what are the pros and cons of taking Calotren? We must find out all about the supplement before deciding to take it regularly.

Burning Up The Calories

Calotren is mainly made up of collagen hydrolysate, which is a form of protein. This protein is very essential in building lean muscle mass which is found in the muscles, organs and joint tissues. In the process of developing these muscles, collagen is produced. The more the collagen, the more the lean muscle mass. And this lean muscle mass again burns up more calories, leading to weight loss. Calotren serves as a supplier of collagen to the body. Therefore, it aids in the development of lean muscle mass and consequently in losing weight. The lean muscle mass burns up more calories than other parts of the body. As more calories are burnt, more fat is destroyed which leads to a leaner body.

What About The Side-Effects?

Calotren supplement has zero side effects. This has been confirmed by all the people who have taken Calotren. Since Calotren has no stimulants like caffeine and ephedrine, it does not cause a person to feel jittery or have a racing heart. These are the normal side-effects of weight-loss supplements. On the other hand, Calotren has displayed some positive side-effects. It has been noticed that Calotren prevents wrinkling of the skin. This means that there will be no wrinkles on your face and hands which will make you look much younger than your age. Beauty experts are also pleased with the results.

How Much Weight Do You Lose?

Calotren supplement must be able to achieve the very goal that it has been created for. Unless you lose substantial weight after consuming Calotren, there is no use in taking it. But studies state that you should be able to lose 1 pound every week. A calorie deficit of 500 calories should be created per day. Taking Calotren will add about 12 calories every day which is quite negligible. It is expected that you will achieve 86% success with weight loss after taking Calotren constantly for 90 days.

What Are The Other Benefits?

What can be better than if Calotren supplement can provide other benefits besides controlling your weight. The presence of glucosamine and chondroitin in Calotren is a very good sign. These ingredients aid in developing joint tissue. This means that there will be an increase in joint flexibility and also that you will recover better from joint injuries. Looking at all these aspects of Calotren, one can safely conclude that Calotren is an effective means of controlling your weight. There are only advantages to count.

Sean Jackson is a health freak. The sole aim of his life is to maintain a healthy and lean body and make others do the same. More info about: weight loss

No big surprise - we all make mistakes. From the newest newbie, to the person who has been low carbing for years, we all encounter bumps in the road, or our experiments don't turn out well. Here are 10 of the most common mistakes I see in low carb eating.

1) Getting Off on the Wrong FootYou don't have to take a college class to understand low carb eating. But if you think it means you should just eat meat all day (or other low carb myths) or if you don't know where the carbs are lurking, you're setting yourself up for a fall. You do need to have some basic knowledge about how cutting carbohydrates works, what foods have carbohydrates, and how to eat a balanced low carb diet.2) Giving Up Too QuicklyThere are lots of approaches to low carb eating, and there are often missteps at first, as you try to find one that works for you, or to modify an existing one. There is a tendency to over-react a bit when everything doesn't go perfectly, and give up. A prime example of this is eating too little carbohydrate at first, suffering carb crash, and deciding low carb isn't for you. This is a shame, when a simple adjustment can usually get you through the first week comfortably, to the great rewards at the end of it.3) Not Enough VegetablesTime and time again, people tell me they don't feel good eating low carb, and it turns out they are eating almost no vegetables or fruit. This will not work in the long run. My low carb pyramid has vegetables at the base - in other words, you should be eating more of them than any other food! Fruit, too, especially fruit low in sugar, has its place in a complete low carb diet.4) Not Enough FiberEating enough vegetables and fruit go a long way towards insuring you are getting enough fiber in your diet. There are other low carb sources of fiber as well, and it's good to learn about them.5) Eating Too MuchIt's true that you don't have to count calories on a low carb diet. But that doesn't mean calories don't count! The great thing about low carb eating is that our appetites "turn down," allowing us to eat fewer calories without getting hungry. Some people make the mistake, though, of thinking they can just keep eating and eating and still lose weight as long as the food is low carb. Let your appetite be your guide - eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are comfortable.6) Lack of PlanningWhen you are first on a new way of eating, you'll run into old habits that need to be changed to new healthier ones. No longer can you mindlessly hit the vending machine or drive-thru. This is a good thing: Pausing to re-consider our habits is a constructive step towards making improvements in our lives. But in the case of eating, it's important to plan ahead for awhile, until our new habits come naturally. Nothing will sabotage your goals more quickly than realizing that you're hungry but you don't know what to eat.7) Getting into a RutThere are people who eat the same things day after day, and like it that way. But frankly, most of us like variety, and will get bored very quickly if that is not built into the way we eat. There is no reason for not eating a wide variety of foods, and in fact, a varied diet is likely to be better for us nutritionally. Every cuisine on the planet has low carb options - you just need to skip the starch and sugar. Also, most dishes can be "de-carbed." If you want to figure out a way to have your favorite flavors, ask in our Forum - we love to talk about what we're eating.8) Problem Ingredients in "Low Carb" Packaged FoodsBe wary of meal replacement bars, ice cream, and other "treats" labeled low carb or sugar-free. They often contain ingredients such as maltitol (the worst offender) which are just as bad as sugar in a lot of bodies. In general, products that talk about their "net carbs" or "impact carbs" deserve close scrutiny of the ingredients, and careful experimentation.9) Carb CreepYou're eating low carb. You're feeling great, and the weight dropping off as if by magic. You're not hungry between meals! You have energy! You can concentrate better! Wheee! You think you'll have a piece of toast! It doesn't matter! You still feel great! You think you'll have some ice cream! Hey! You're still losing weight! A little sugar in the coffee can't hurt, can it? Maybe not, but...uh oh. Something has sent you over your own personal limit. Suddenly, you're having carb cravings, you're gaining weight, and you're in a vicious circle that's hard to break of eating carbs, being hungrier, eating more carbs...ugh.

Sometimes it happens more subtly, but it's common to let more and more carbs creep in, sometimes unawares. If that happens, it's time to take stock and probably start over, at least for a few days, to break that cycle.10) No ExerciseThere is a temptation to leave exercise out when talking about low carb diets, because often people can be successful at first while staying sedentary. However, there are several reasons for talking about exercise in any diet discussion (Atkins called it "non-negotiable"). One is that exercise lowers insulin resistance - this is probably partly why exercise alone will tend to help many people lose a few pounds. The second is that exercise is good for our bodies in so many ways. And the third is that while we can lose weight by diet alone, at least to some extent, we are very unlikely to be able to maintain a significant weight loss without exercise.source :lowcarbdiets.about..

Among the benefits of "natural green tea" , remember the following: Green tea helps reduce levels of LDL lipid and protein which is known bad cholesterol and works as a prophylaxis of heart disease and atherosclerosis.

The antioxidants, which protect the body from disease, are available in abundance in "natural green tea". One of the most powerful of these compounds known as short codes EGCG, who works on the prevention of harmful sun rays effects and various types of tumors.

It also protects ,when placed on the skin, against the sores and blisters and abnormal cell division which is due to the harmful sun rays.

The "natural green tea" dyes the teeth, but it protects the teeth from decay; because it contains fluoride and maintains on the gums, and resistant to harmful bacteria in addition to resisting the bad smell of the mouth .

Tea as well as improve the kidney function and resist against renal failure , and reduce the risk of ulcers and regulates bowel movement. In addition to being resistant to high blood sugar levels and helps to lose weight if drinking after meals.

we Can distinguish the good "natural green tea" by its delicate touch and its light green color, and one of the most important characteristics of green tea leaves that : floating on the surface of the hot water for tea at the cast and then sink again after several minutes.

You can prepare a cup of useful and delicious cup of the "natural green tea" by following these steps:

1. Use clean water and be careful to be free of impurities so as not to change the tea taste .2. Heat water to boiling point, to give its known flavor . 3. Put a teaspoon of tea for each cup of tea. 4. Leave the tea in water for 3 minutes before you drink it.5.have a nice cup of "natural green tea"……